San Francisco

Eyes Wide Open was on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle last Saturday showing the combat boots in front of Civic Center Plaza. An inside story told of Ariane Alexander, a psychologist and counselor for veterans. She said that she had to contain her emotions during counseling sessions, but as she walked among the pairs of 1,525 boots, nothing could keep the tears from flowing.

She has three sons in the military and she had to fight back the thoughts of one of the laminated tags bearing one of their names. She told the Chronicle reporter: "Every day of the war, I've read about someone dying. And then you look down at the boots and you see a symbol of them."

Cindy Sheehan whose son, Casey was killed in Iraq last April said: "Behind all of these boots is one broken-hearted family."